COLONEL THORNDYKE’S SECRET.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 6, 23 January 1912, Page 5

COLONEL THORNDYKE’S SECRET.

COPYRIGHT.

BY C. A. HEHTY,

Author of “Dorothy’s Double,” “A Hidden Foe,” &c. &c. PART 4. Tor some years life passed uneventfully at Crowswood. It was seldom indeed that the squire’s authority was needed to set matters right iu the village. The substitution of good farmers for shiftless ones in some of the farms, and the better cultivation generally had given more employment, and as John Thorndyke preferred keeping two or three cottages shut up rather than have them occupied by men for whom no work could he found, it was rare indeed that there were any complaints of scarcity of work, except indeed on the part of the rector, who declared that what with the healthiness of the village and the absence of want, bis occupation, save for the Sunday duty, was a sinecure. Mr. Bastow was more happy and much brighter than be had been for many years. The occupation of teaching suited him, and he was able to make the work pleasant to his pupil as well as to himself; indeed it occupied but a small portion of the day, the amount of learning considered necessary at the time not being extensive. A knowledge of Greek was thought quite superfluous for a country gentleman. Science was in its infancy, mathematics a subject only to be taken up by those who . mated to obtain a college fellowship. Latin, however, was considered an essential, and a knack of apt quotation from the l>tin poets an accomplishment • hut or cry man who was a member of society or aspired to enter Parliament was expected to possess. Thus Mark Thorndyke’s lessons lasted but two or three hours a day, and the school time was a movable period according to the time of the year and the engagement of the squire and Mark. In winter the time was the evening, so that' the boy shot with his father or rode to the hounds, or as he got older joined shooting parties at the houses of neighbours.

In summer the work was done in the morning, but was not unfrequently broken. Mark went off at a very early hour to drive perhaps some twenty miles with his great chum, Dick Chetwynd, for a long clay’s fishing, or to see a main of cocks fought, or a light between the champions of two neighbouring villages, or perhaps some more important battle. When Millicent Conyers was ten years old she came regularly into the study, sitting curled up in a deep chair getting up her lessons Avhile Mark did his, and then changing seats with liim while he learned his Horace or Ovid by heart. At this time she looked up greatly to him, and was his companion whenever he would allow her to be, fetched and carried for him, and stood almost on o level with his dogs in his estimation. Four years later, when Mark was eighteen, those relations changed somewhat. He now liked to have her with him not only when about the house and garden, but when he took short rides she cantered along on her pony by his side. She was a bright faced girl, full of life and fun, and rejoicing in a far greater amount of freedom than most girls of her age and time. *lt is really time that she should learn to comport terself more staidly, instead of running about like a wild thing,’ Mrs. Cunningham said, one day, as she and the squire stood after breakfast looking out of the open window at Mark and Millicent.

1 Time enough, my dear lady, time enough ; let her enjoy life while she can, I am not in favour of making a young kitten behave like an old tabby; every creature in nature is joyful and frolicsome while it is young; she is as tall and as straight as any of her friends of the same age and looks more healthy, she will tame down in time and I dare say walk and look as prim and demure as they do. I was watching them the other day when there was a party of .them up here, and I thought the difference was all to her advantage. She looked a natural, healthy girl—they looked like a set of over-dressed dolls, afraid to move or to talk loud, or to stretch their mouths when they smile; very nice and ladylike, no doubt, but you will see Millicent will throw them into the shade when she is once passed the tomboy age. Leave her alone, Mrs. Cunningham. A girl is not like a fruit tree that wants pruning and training from its first year. It will be quite time to get her into shape when she has done growing,’

John Thorndyke had occasionally made inquiries of Mr. Bastow as to the whereabouts of his son. At the time the seutence was passed transportation to the American colonies was being discontinued, and until other arrangements could be made, hulks were established as places of confinement and punishment, but a few months later he was one of the first batch of convicts sent out to the penal settlement formed on the east coast of Australia. This was intended to be fixed at Botany Bay, but it having been found that this hay was open and unsheltered, it was established at Sydney, although for many years the settlement retained in England the name of the original site. As the condition of the prisoners kept rin the hulks was deplorable, the squire had, through the influence of Sir Charles Harris, obtained the inclusion of Arthur 1 Bastow’s name among the first batch of those who were to sail for Australia. Mr. Bastow obtained permission to see his son before sailing, but returned home much depressed, for he had been assailed with such revolting and blasphemous language by his son, that he had been forced to retire in horror at the end of a few minutes.

1 We have done well in getting him sent off,’ the squire said, when he heard the result of the interview. 1 In the first .'dace the demoralising effects of these

hulks is quite evident, anditmay be hoped that in a new country, where there can be no occasion for the convicts to be pent up together, things may be better; for although escapes from the hulks are not frequent, they occasionally take place, and had he gained his liberty wo should have had an anxious time of it until he was rearrested, whereas out there there is nowhere to go to, no possibility of committing a crime. It is not there as it was in the American colony. Settlements may grow up in time, but at present there are no white men whatever settled there, and the natives are, they say, hostile, and were a convict to escape he would almost certainly be killed and possibly eaten. No doubt by the time he has served his sentence colonies will be established out there, and he may then be disposed to settle there, either on a piece of land which he could no doubt take up, or in the service of one of the colonists.’

CHAPTER Y. The voyage on board ship had done much to efface distinctions, the convict life had done more, and the chief difference between the chained and unchained prisoners was that the latter were men of more timid disposition than many of their companions, and therefore less disposed to give trouble that would entail heavy punishment. But it was only the comparatively wellconducted men who were placed upon road work ; the rest were retained for work inside the gaol, or were caged in solitary confinement. Each morning a number, varying from half a dozen to a dozen, were fastened up and flogged, in some cases with merciless severity, hut it was seldom that a cry was uttered by these, the most brutal ruffians of the convict herd.^

This spectacle was just over ; it was conducted in public for the edification of the rest, but judging from the low laughs and brutal jests, uttered below the breath, it signally failed in producing the desired impression. Two of those who had suffered the severest punishment were now putting on their coarse woollen garments over their blood-stained shoulders; both were comparatively young men. ‘ I shall not stand this much longer,’ one muttered. ‘ I will brain a warder and get hung for it. One can hut die once, while one can get flogged once a sveek.’

‘ So would I,’ the other said, bitterly; ‘ but I have some scores to settle in England and I am not going to put my head in a noose until I have wiped them out. And the sooner we make arrangements to get hack there the better.’ • Yes, we have talked of this before,’ the other said. ‘ I quite -agree with you that if we all had the pluck of men, we ought to be able to overpower the warders in spite of their firearms. Of course, some of us would get killed, but no one would mind that if there was but the remotest chance of getting away. The question is, what we should do with ourselves when we were once outside the prison ; of course I know that there are two or three hundred settlers, but there would not he much to bo got out of them, and life among those blackfellows, even if they were civil to us, which I don’t suppose tiiey wnuLLhe,would not be worth having.

‘We might not have to stay there long; ships with emigrants arrive occasionally, and if a lot of us got away we might seize one by force, turn pirates for a bit, and when we are tired of that, sail to some South American port, sell our capture, and make our way home to England. If we were not strong enough to take her, we could hide up on board her; we should he sure to find some fellow who, for a pound or two, would he willing to help us; the thing can be done if we make up our minds to do it. I for one have made up my mind to do it. I haven’t chalked out a plan yet, but I am convinced that it is to be done.’

‘ I am with yon whatever it is,’ the other said, ‘and I think there are twenty or thirty we could rely on ; I don’t say there are more than that, because there are a lot of white-livered cusses among them who would inform against us at once, so as to get their own freedom and a reward for doing so. Well, we will both think if over, Tom, and the sooner the better.’ ' The two men who were thus talking together were both by birth above the common herd of convicts, and had gained a considerable ascendency over the others because of their reckless indifference to punishment and their defiance of authority. 3?ew of the men knew each other’s real names; by the officials they were simply known by numbers, while among themselves each had a slang name generally gained on board ship. Separation had, of course, been impossible, and when fastened down below each had told his story with_ such embellishments as he chose to give it, and being but little interfered with by their guards, save to ensure the impossibility of a mutiny, there had been fights of a desperate kind. Four or five dead bodies had been found and thrown overboard, hut as none would testify as to who had been the assailants, none were punished for it; and so the strongest and most desperate had enforced their authority over the others as wild beasts might do, and by the time they bad reached their destination all were steeped much deeper in wickedness and brutalism than when they set soil. The two men who were speaking together had speedily become chums, and though much younger tnan tiie majority of the prisoners, bad by their recklessness and ferocity established an ascendency among the others. Inis ascendency had been alter I arrival by their constant acts ot insubordination and by heir apparent indifference to the punishment _ awarded them. At night the convicts were lodged in wooden buildings, where, so lon o, as they were not riotous, they were allowed to talk and converse freely, as indeed was the case when their work for the day was done. As to any attempt at escape, the authorities had but small anxiety, for until the arrival of the first settlers,

inree years artcr mat ox me couriers, there was nowhere a fugitive could go to, no food to he obtained, no shelter save among the blacks, who were always ready, for a reward of tobacco and spirits, to hand them over at once to the authorities. The case had but slightly changed since the settlement began to grow. It was true that, by stealing sheep or driving off a few head of cattle a fugitive might maintain himself for a time, hut even if not shot down by the settlers or patrols, he would bo sure before long to be brought in by the blacks. The experiment had already been tried of farming our betterconducted convicts to the settlors, and indeed it was the prospect of obtaining such cheap labour that had been the main inducement to many of those_who came out to establish themselves so far from home, instead of going to America.

As a whole the system worked satisfactorily the men were as much prisoners as were the inmates of the gaol, for they knew well enough that were they to leave the farmers and take to the bush they would remain free but a short time, being either killed or handed over by the blacks, and in the latter ease they would he severely punished and set to prison work in irons, with labour very much more severe than that they were called upon to do on the farms. Some little time after the conversation between the two convicts the prison authorities were congratulating themselves upon the fact that a distinct change had taken, or was taking, place in the demeanour of many of the men who had hitherto been the most troublesome, and they put it down to the unusually severe floggings that had been inflicted on the two most refractory prisoners in the establishment. When in the prison yard or at work they were more silent than before, and did their tasks doggedly and sullenly. There was no open defiance to the authorities, 'and above all, a marked cessation of drunkenness from the spirits smuggled into the place. Only the two originators of the plot were aware of its extent. They had agreed that only by keeping every man in ignorance as to who had joined it could they hope to escape treachery. In the first place they had taken into their confidence a dozen men on whom they could absolutely rely. Beyond this they had approached the others singly, beginning by hinting that there was a plot for escape, and that a good many were concerned, and telling them that these had bound themselves together by a solemn oath to kill any traitor, even if hanged for it. ‘ No one is to know who is in it, and who is not,’ the leaders said to each new recruit. ‘ Every man will be closely watched by the rest, and if he has any communication privately with a warder or any other official he will be found strangled the next morning; no one will know who did it. Even if he succeeded in eluding the vigilance of his comrades at the time, it would soon he known ; for if indulgence of any kind was shown towards one man or he was relieved from his ordinary work, or even freed altogether and suddenly, he would be a dead man in twenty-four -hours, for- we —have—friends—outsideamong the ticket-of-leave men, who have bound themselves to kill at once any man set free.’ To the question ‘What do you intend to do when we get off ?’ the answer was, ‘ We shall go straight to the hush so as to avoid a fight with the soldiers in the first place, then we shall join that night and drive off all the cattle and sheep from the settlements, take possession of every firearm found in the houses, then move off a couple of hundred miles or so into the bush and establish a settlement of our own.’ ‘Of course, we shall take horses and clothes and any spirits and food wc may find. If the soldiers pursue us, we will fight them, but as there are only three or four companies of them, and we shall be eight hundred strong, we shall very soon show them that they had better leave us alone.

‘Oh, yes, no doubt they will send more soldiers out from England, hut it will he over a year before they, can get here, and we propose after we have done with the fellows here to break up into parties of twenty and thirty, dividing the sheep and cattle among us, and each party going where it will. The place is of tremendous size, as big as a dozen Englands, they say, and each party will fix on a place it fancies where there is good water and a river with fish and so on, and we may live all our lives comfortably, with just enough work to raise potatoes and com and to watch our stock increasing. Anyhow, we might calculate on having some years of peace and freedom, and even if in the end they search us all out, which would he very unlikely, they could hut bring us back, hang a few, and set the rest to work again; but we think that they would most likely leave us alone altogether, quite satisfied with having got rid of the body of us. ‘ Those who liked it could no doubt take wives among the blacks. The convict women who are out on service with the settlers would, you may he sure, join us at once, and an enterprising chap who preferred a white woman to a black could always make his way down here and persuade one to go off with him to his farm. That is the general plan ; if many get tired of the life they have only to come down to Sydney, hide up near the place on some dark night, and go down to the port, seize a ship and make off in her, compelling the officers and sailors to take them and land them at any port they fancy, either in Chili, Peru, or Mexico, or if they like sail the other way and make for Rio or Buenos Ayres or one of the West Indian islands. As to when it is going to be done, or how I it is going to be done, no one will be i told till it is ready to he canned out. \ We have not settled that ourselves, and j thus, one who was fool enough to risk i certain death could tell the governor j no more than that there was a plot on | hand, and that the man who had sworn f him in was concerned in it.’

So quietly every man in the prison i was sworn by a terrible oath, both to j secrecy, to walch his companions, and to j report anything that looked suspicious. | Many joined willingly, the prospect of relief, even should it only be temporary, being too fascinating to be resisted. Some joined against their will, fearing that a refusal to do so would be punished by death; and the fact that two or three j men were found strangled in bed had a very great effect in inducing others to j join in the plot. These deaths caused some uneasiness to the authorities. Their utmost endeavours failed to discover who were the perpetrators of these murders, and even when everyone in the . same hut was flogged to obtain information, not one opened his lips. One night j the word was passed round that the time | had come. One only iu each hut was ! familiar with the details, and he gave instructions to each man individually as to what he was to do. In the morning the whole of the convicts were drawn up to witness the flogging of the inmates of one of the huts, where a man had been found strangled the morning before. The first prisoner was taken to the triangle, stripped to the waist, and tied up. There was a dead silence in the ranks of the convicts, but as the first blow fell upon his shoulders there was a loud yell, and simultaneously the whole ranks broke up, and a number of men sprang upon each of the warders, wrested their muskets from them, and threw them to the ground, Then there was a rush towards the governor and officers, who were assembled in front of the stone house that faced the open end of the square. Firing their pistols, these at once took refuge in the house, three or four falling under the scattered fire that was opened as soon as the muskets of the warders fell into tire hands of the convicts. Directly the doors were closed the officers appeared at the windows, and opened a rifle fire upon the convicts, as did the guards near the gate. As comparatively few of the convicts had muskets they begun to waver at once. But headed by the two ringleaders, the men with muskets rushed at the guard, shot them down, and threw open the gate. Then an unexpected thing occurred. The soldiers from the barracks happened to be marching down to do target practice on the shore; they were passing the convict prison when the firing broke out. They were at once halted, and ordered to’load, and as the convicts with exultant shouts, poured through the gate they saw a long line of soldiers with levelled muskets, facing them. ‘ At them !’ one of the leaders shouted, ‘it is too late to draw back now. We have got to break through them.’ Many of the convicts ran back into the yard; hut those armed with muskets, more desperate than the others, followed their leaders. A moment later a heavy volley rang out, and numbers of the convicts fell. Their two leaders, however, and some twenty of their followers, keeping in a close body, rushed at the line of soldiers with clubbed muskets, and with the suddenness and fury of the rush burst their way through the line, and then scattering, fled across the country, pursued by a dropping fire of musketry. ~Ther officers in command, seeing hut a fraction had escaped, ordered one company to pursue, and marched the rest into the prison yard. It was already deserted; the convicts had scattered to their huts, Liu--- who had arms throwing them awa\. Dotted here and there over the square , were the bodies of eight or ten convicts and as many warders, whose skulls had been smashed in by their infuriated assailants as soon as they had obtained possession of their muskets.

Close to the gate lay the six soldiers ■who had furnished the guard. These were all dead or mortally wounded. The governor and the officials issued from the house as soon as the soldiers entered the yard. The first step to take was to turn* all the convicts out of the huts and to iron them. No resistance was attempted, the sight of the soldiers completely cowing the mutineers. When the bodies of the convicts that had fallen were counted, and the roll of the prisoners called over, it was found that eighteen were missing, and of these six were during the course of the next hour or two brought in by the soldiers who had gone in pursuit of them. The rest had escaped. The convicts were all questioned separately, and the tales they told agreed so closely that the governor could not doubt that they were speaking the truth. All had been sworn in by one or two men, and knew nothing whatever of what was intended to be done that day until after they were locked up on the evening previous, Each of those in the huts had received their instructions the night before from the same man. There were eighteen huts, each containing fifteen convicts. Of the men who had given instructions six had fallen outside he gate, together with sixteen others; five had been overtaken and brought in; altogether twelve were still at large. Amoncr these were the two leaders.

The two leaders had kept together after they had broken through the line of soldiers.

1 Things have gone off well,’ one said as they ran through. ‘ Those soldiers nearly spoilt it all.’ ‘ Yes, that was unlucky,’ the other agreed, ‘ hut so far as we are' concerned, which is all we care about, I think things have turned out for the best.’ Nothing more was said until they had far outstripped their pursuers, hampered as these were by their uniforms and belts. The date had been determined by the fact that the time for which they had been sentenced to wear irons had terminated the day before, - and their unusually subdued and quiet demeanour having carried them through Jbhe interval without, as usual, fresh punishments being awarded them before the termination of the former one. Not until they gained the bush did they break into a walk for a time. ‘ You mean that it is not such a bad thing that they have not all got away ? ’ ‘ Yes, that is what I mean. It is all very well to tell them about driving off the sheen and cattle and horses and

] going to start n polony on our own : account, but the soldiers would have i been up to us before we had gone a I day’s journey. Most of the fellows would have bolted directly they saw them. As it is, I fancy there are only about a dozen that hare got away, and not perhaps as many as that, and they are all men that one can rely upon. One can feed a dozen without difficulty, I if it is only a sheep a day, and by giving I a turn to each of the settlers the animals won’t be missed. Besides, we shall want money if we are ever to get out of this cursed country. It would not be difficult to get enough for you and 1 me, but when it comes to a large I number, the sack of the whole settle- { ment would not go far.

‘My own idea is that we had best I join the others to-night, kill a few i sheep, and go two or three days’ march into the hush, until the heat of the pursuit is over. We are all armed, and the blacks would not venture to attack us, and the soldiers would not be likely to pursue us very far. In a week or so, when we can assume that matters have cooled down a bit, we can come down again. We know all the shepherds, and even if they were not disposed to help us they would not dare to betray us, or report a sheep or two being missed. Of course, we shall have to be very careful to shift our quarters frequently. Those black trackers are sure to be sent out pretty often. My own idea is that it would be safer for us to break up into parties.’ ‘ As long as we are banging about the settlements there won’t be much fear of our being bothered by the blanks. Of course we shall have, to decide later on whether it will be best for us to try and seize a ship, all of us acting together, or for we two to get quietly on board one and keep under hatches until she is well away. That is the plan I fancy most.’ ‘So do I; in the first place the chances are that in the next two or three months at least half the fellows will be picked up. To begin with, several of them are sure to get hold of liquor and make attacks upon the settlers, in which case some of them anyhow are sure to get killed. In the next place, most of them were brought up as thieves in the slums of Londou, and will have no more idea of roughing it in a country like this than of behaving themselves if they were transported to a London drawing-room. Therefore, I am pretty sure that at the end of three months we shall not be able to reckon on half of them. Well, six men are not enough to capture a ship, or if they do capture it to keep the crew under. One must sleep sometimes, and with only three or four men on deck we could not hope to keep a whole ship’s crew at bay.’ ‘ Then there is another reason. You and I, when we have got a decent rigout, could pass anywhere without exciting observation; while if we. had half a dozen of the others, whatever their good qualities, they would be noticed at once by their villainous faces, and if questions were to be asked, we should be likely to find ourselves in limbo again in a very short time. So I am all for working on our own account, even if the whole of the others wore ready to back us; but, of course, we must keep on good terms with them all, and breathe no word that we think that each man had better shift for himself. Some of those fellows if they thought we had any idea of leaving them, would go straight into Sydney and denounce us, although they would know that they would be likely to swing at’the same time.’

As none of the convicts were acquainted with the bush, they were obliged to select as their rendezvous a hut by the roadside, two miles out of town, where the convict gangs that worked on the road were in the habit of leaving their tools. On the way there the two men killed a couple of sheep from a fiock whose position they had noticed before it became dark. These they skinned,- cut off their heads, and left them behind, carrying the sheep on their shoulders to the meeting. ‘ls that you, Captain Wild ? ’ a voice said as they approached. ‘ Yes, Gentleman Dick is with me.’ < That is a good job ; we had begun to think that the soldiers had caught you.’ ‘ They would not have caught us alive, you may take your oath. How many are there of us here ? ’ ‘ Ten of us, captain. I think that that is all there are.’

i That is enough for our purpose. Has anyone got anything to eat?’ There was a deep growl in the negative. ‘ Well, we have brought a couple of sheep with us, and as we have carried them something like a mile, you had better handle them by turns. We will strike off into the hush and put another three or four miles between us and the gaol, and then light a fire and have a meal.’

Two of the men came forward and took the sheep. They then turned off from the road,’ and taking their direction from a star, followed it for an hour. ‘ I think we have, got far enough now,’ the man called Captain Wild said. ‘ You had better cut down the bushes and we will make a fire.’ ‘ But how are we to light it? ’ one of them exclaimed in a tone of consternation. ‘ I don’t suppose we have got flint and steel or tinder box among us.’

1 Oh, we can manage that 1 ’ the captain said. ‘ Get a heap of dried leaves here first, then some wood, and we will soon have a blaze.’

His orders were obeyed. Some of the men had carried off the warders’ swords as well as their muskets, and used them for chopping wood. As soon as a small Pile of dried leaves were gathered, the captain broke a cartridge and sprinkled half its contents among them, and then dropped the remainder into his musket. He flashed this off among the leaves, and a bright flame at once shot up, and in five minutes a fire was burning. One of the sheep was at once cut up, and the meat cut in slices from the bones, a ramrod was thrust through the pieces, and, supported by four sticks, was laid upon the fire. Three other similarly

laui ii spits were soon plan'd beside it, and in a short time the meat was ready for eating. Until a hearty meal had been made there was but little talking. ‘ That is first-rate,’ one of the men said, as he wiped bis mouth with the back of his hand, ‘ now one only wants a pipe and bacca and a glass of grog to feel comfortable.’

1 Well, captain, are you satisfied with the day’s work V ‘ It would have been a grand day had it not been for the soldiers passing j ust at the time. As it is, Gentleman Dick and I have been agreeing that as far as we are all concerned it has not turned out so badly. There would have been a lot of difficulty in finding food if we had all got away, and some of those moaly-mouthed fellows would have been sure to go back and peach on us at the first opportunity. A dozen is better than a hundred for the sort of life we are likely to lead for some time; we are strong enough not to fear any attack from the blackfellows, and also to break into one of these settlers’ houses.

‘ We can, when we have a mind to, take a stray sheep now and then, or even a bullock would scarcely be missed, especially if our pals in the settlement will lend us a helping hand, which you may be sure they will do; iu fact, they would know better than to refuse. Then a large party could be traced by those black trackers at a run, while a small one would not; especially if, as we certainly should do, we break up into twos and threes fora time. First’of all, though, we must go well into the bush; at daybreak to-morrow morning we will drive off twenty sheep, and go right away into the bush, a hundred miles, and wait there till matters have settled down. They will never take the troops out that distance after us. Then we can come back again and hang about the settlement, and take what we want. The wild blacks don’t come near there, and we shall he safer in pairs than we would be if we kept together, and of course we could meet once a week or so to talk over our plans. We must borrow some whisky, flour, tea, tobacco, and a few other items from the settlers, but we had better do without them for this trip, I don’t want to turn the settlers against us, for they have all got horses, and might combine with the j troops to give chase, so it would be best to leave these sort of matters till we get back again. Another reason for treating them gently is that even if they did not join the troops they might feel a sort of panic, drive their sheep and horses down into Sydney, and then we should mighty I soon get short of food. It will be quite time enough, to draw upon them heavily when we make up our minds to get hold of a ship and sail away. Mowr' would be of no use to us here, hut we shall want it when we get to a port, wherever that port may be.’ ‘ That sounds right enough, captain,’ one of the convicts said, ‘and just at present nothing would suit me better that to get so far away from this place that I can lie upon my back and take it easy for a spell.’ . There was a general chorus of assent, and there being neither tobacco nor spirits, tbe party very soon stretched themselves out to sleep round the .fire. In the morning they were up before daylight, and half an; hour later arrived at one of the farthest farms from Sydney. Here they found a flock of a hundred sheep. The shepherd came to the door of his hut on hearing a noise. ‘ You had best lie down and go to sleep for the next hour,’ the leader of the convicts said, sharply. ‘We don’t want to do an old pal any harm, and when you wake up in the morning and find the flock some twenty_ short, of course you won’t have any idea what has become of them.’ The man nodded and went hack into the hut and shut tbe door, and the convicts , started for the interior, driving twenty sheep before them. During the first day’s journey they went fast, keeping the sheep at a trot before them, aid continuing thoir journey through the heat of the day. ‘ I tell you ‘ what, captain,’ one of them said when they halted at sunset, ‘if we don’t get to a .waterhole we shall have to give up this idea of going and camping in the hush. My mouth has been like an oven all day, and it is no use getting away from gaol to die of thirst out here.’ There had been similar remarks during the day, and the two leadersagreed together that it would he mad-1 ness to push further, and that, what-j ever the risk, they would have to return j to the settlements unless they could; strike water. As they were sitting: moodily round the fire they were' startled by a dozen natives coming for-; ward into the, circle of light. These ; held out their hands to say that their intentions were peaceful. _ • ‘ Don’t touch your muskets,’ Captain Wild exclaimed sharply, as some of the ! men were on the point of jumping to their feet. ‘ The men are friendly, and we may be able to get them to guide us to water.’ The natives, as they came up, grinned and rubbed their stomachs, to show that they were hungry. ( . ‘ I understand,’ the captain said, * you want a sheep, we want water; ’ and he held up his hand to his mouth and lifted his elbow as if in the act of , drinking. ■ lu two or three minutes the natives : understood what ho wanted, and , beckoned to the men to follow. The tired sheep were got on to their legs again, and half a mile away the party i arrived at a pool iu what in wet weather i was the bed of a river. A sheep was at s once handed over to the natives. When men and animals had satisfied their • thirst another sheep was killed for their I own use. After a great deal of trouble i the natives were made to understand , that the white men wanted one of their party to go with them as a guide; [ to take them always to waterholes, > aud after bargaining by signs a boy of > fifteen was handed over to them in t exchange for two more sheep, and at , daybreak the next morning they started I again for the interior, feeling much r exhilarated, by the piece pj luck that

had befallen them. They travelled foi ( four days more, and .then considering j that the soldiers had ceased their pursuit long ago they encamped for ten days, enjoying to the utmost their recovered freedom and their immunity from work of any kind. Then-they returned ta the neighbourhood of the settlements,' and broke up, as their leader proposed, i into pairs. They had been there hut a' short time before the depredations committed roused the settlers to band themselves together. Every horse that could be spared was lent to the military, who formed a mounted patrol of forty men, while parties of infantry, guided by relive trackers, were constantly on the scent for the convicts. ‘ This is just what I expected,’ Captain Wild said to his lieutenant. ‘lt, was the choice of two evils, and I am not sure that the plan we chose was not the worst. We might have been quite sure that those fellows would not be able even for a time to give up their old .ways. If they had confined themselves, j as we have done, to taking a sheep when i they wanted it, and behaving civilly when they went to one of the houses and hogged for a few pounds of flour or j tea, the settlers would have made no • great complaint of us; they know i what a hard time we have had, and; you can see that some of the women j ’ were really sorry for us, and gave us more than v?e actually asked for. But it has not been so with the others. They have { been breaking into houses, stealing i everything they could lay their hands! upon, and in three or four eases,shoot-; ing down men on the slightest provocation. ■ i ‘The money and watches were no good to them, but the brutes could not help stealing them, so here we are, aud the settlement is like a swarm of angry bees, and this plan of handing over most of their horses to the military will end in most of us being hunted down. What is the consequence ? Two were shot yesterday, and in another week we shall all either be killed or caught. There is nothing for it hut to clear out. I am against violence, not on principle, but because in this case it'sets people’s backs up, but it cannot be helped now,. We must get a couple of horses to ride and a spare one to carry our swag., We must have half a sack of,flour and a sheep—it is no use taking more than one, because the meat won’t keep—and a good stock of tea and ‘sugar. We must get a good supply of powder if we ■ can, some'bullets and shot. We shall have to get our meat by shooting. ‘ There is no time to be lost, and tonight we had better go to that settlers’ place nearest the town. He has got I two of the best horses out here, at least so Redgrave, that shepherd I was talking to to-day, told me, and a well filled ( store of provisions. If he will let us i have them without rumpus, all well! and good; if not, it will be the worse 1 for him. My idea is that we should 1 ride two or three hundred miles along; • the coast until we get to a river, follow. it up till vje find a tidy place for a camp, and stop there for three or four months, then ooine back again and; keep ourselves quiet until we find o(ut; that a ship is going to sail; then 1 we will do a night, among the farm-: houses and clean them out of their: watches and money, manage to get on, board, and hide till we are well! out to sea. We must get a, fresh fit qutj before we go on board. These clothes j are neither handsome nor becoming; we must put on our best manners, and tell them that we are men who have served' out our full time, and want to get back, and that we were obliged to hide beect-fci we bad not enough to pay our Ml pt? - sage money, but that we have to pay the cost of our grab, and era ready to pull at a rope or make ourselves useful in any w,ay. If we are, lucky we ought to get enough before 1 we start to buy horses and set ourselves 1 up well for business.’ ‘ I think that is a very good plan,’ the other agreed, ‘ and I am quite sure the iooner we make ourselves scarce here the better.’ - I (To be Continued.) |